In detailing the narrative of the Kennedy Assassination, the bestselling book Saving Jackie K examines various foreign leaders who may have held grudges against JFK. Among them, the focus falls on Cuba’s longstanding dictator, Fidel Castro. Did Castro orchestrate the plot to assassinate Kennedy?
In the 1950s, Cuba was under the rule of US-supported military dictator and president, Fulgencio Batista. However, in 1959, rebel leader Fidel Castro, alongside his brother Raul Castro and friend Che Guevara, orchestrated a successful revolution that ousted Batista and ushered in Castro’s communist regime.
From the beginning of his presidency, Kennedy desired Castro’s removal from power. Kennedy adhered to the Domino Theory, which posited that if one country fell to communism, neighboring nations would follow suit. Moreover, Castro aligned himself with his communist ally, Nikita Khrushchev, the Premier of Russia.
The tension between Kennedy and Castro escalated, notably with the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961, where CIA-backed Cuban exiles attempted to overthrow Castro’s government. Castro’s allowance of the Soviet Union to install nuclear launch pads in Cuba, discovered during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, further strained relations. Castro’s denouncement of US-led raids on Cuban soil and Kennedy’s subsequent remarks characterizing Cuba as a pawn of Russia further fueled animosity between the two leaders. Less than a week after Kennedy’s speech, he was assassinated.